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Homegrown talent on NHL rosters
Written by: Holly Gunning on 10/24/2005 
Many NHL general managers have noted that under the new CBA, drafting and player development have become more important. How are teams currently doing in growing their own players?
The first table below shows each of the NHL teams from highest percentage of drafted and homegrown talent to lowest, in terms of their opening night roster for 2005-06. Homegrown players are defined as drafted players, plus those who were not drafted, but made their NHL debuts with the team.
Hockey's Future makes no value judgment on the best percentage of homegrown players. A low percentage could indicate poor drafting and player development, but on the other hand, a high percentage could indicate an inflexibility, and a tendency to hold onto players too long. And in fact, there seems to be very little correlation to the percentage of homegrown talent and the early standings.
The San Jose Sharks have the highest percentage of both drafted and homegrown players, while the Phoenix Coyotes lag both categories.
Own-team
| Non-expansion teams | % of opening roster players self-drafted | % of opening roster players 'homegrown' |
| San Jose | 67% | 71% |
| Ottawa | 61% | 65% |
| Montreal | 46% | 58% |
| Chicago | 48% | 52% |
| Edmonton | 40% | 52% |
| Detroit | 50% | 50% |
| Buffalo | 50% | 50% |
| Pittsburgh | 50% | 50% |
| New Jersey | 43% | 48% |
| Boston | 39% | 48% |
| Colorado | 43% | 43% |
| St. Louis | 35% | 43% |
| NY Islanders | 36% | 41% |
| Philadelphia | 36% | 40% |
| Dallas | 39% | 39% |
| Washington | 33% | 38% |
| Los Angeles | 38% | 38% |
| Vancouver | 36% | 36% |
| Florida | 30% | 35% |
| Anaheim | 26% | 35% |
| Toronto | 30% | 35% |
| NY Rangers | 29% | 33% |
| Carolina | 30% | 30% |
| Tampa Bay | 25% | 25% |
| Calgary | 22% | 22% |
| Phoenix | 15% | 15% |
The four latest expansion teams are listed separately, since they have not had as many draft cycles as other teams. Nashville's earliest draftees, the 1998 class, are still only 25 years of age.
| Expansion teams | % of opening roster players self-drafted | % of opening roster players 'homegrown' |
| Minnesota | 36% | 40% |
| Columbus | 30% | 35% |
| Nashville | 29% | 33% |
| Atlanta | 21% | 25% |
The average amount of homegrown talent is 42 percent for non-expansion teams, and 33 percent for the most recent expansion franchises. Note that players like Peter Forsberg who were originally drafted by a team, played elsewhere, then returned, are counted equally in the drafted column. The low number of such players should not interfere with the general results. Edmonton showed the biggest difference between drafted and homegrown players, having provided five undrafted players their NHL debut. Almost seven percent of the players (48) on NHL opening night rosters were never drafted. Five of those 48 were goaltenders.
League-wide
Naturally, astute trading and player acquisition are as much a part of the process of building a contender as drafting. To isolate the drafting prowess of teams over the long haul, we break down the number of players in the league as a whole that each team originally selected. New Jersey leads, with 36 former draft picks on opening night rosters league-wide, while Tampa Bay drafted the fewest among non-expansion teams, with just 12 players.
| Non-expansion teams | No. drafted in league (all) | No. drafted in league (skaters) | No. drafted in league (goalies) |
| New Jersey | 36 | 31 | 5 |
| Montreal | 33 | 30 | 3 |
| Colorado | 33 | 25 | 8 |
| San Jose | 31 | 28 | 3 |
| NY Islanders | 30 | 27 | 3 |
| Buffalo | 27 | 24 | 3 |
| NY Rangers | 27 | 24 | 3 |
| Boston | 26 | 23 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| Pittsburgh | 25 | 23 | 2 |
| Calgary | 25 | 25 | 0 |
| Ottawa | 24 | 22 | 2 |
| Philadelphia | 24 | 20 | 4 |
| Carolina | 24 | 21 | 3 |
| Detroit | 22 | 20 | 2 |
| Edmonton | 22 | 21 | 1 |
| Washington | 21 | 20 | 1 |
| Phoenix | 20 | 17 | 3 |
| Dallas | 20 | 19 | 1 |
| St. Louis | 20 | 19 | 1 |
| Toronto | 20 | 19 | 1 |
| Florida | 19 | 17 | 2 |
| Anaheim | 19 | 17 | 2 |
| Chicago | 18 | 16 | 2 |
| Vancouver | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| Tampa Bay | 12 | 12 | 0 |
The Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise drafted an astounding total of eight goaltenders listed on NHL rosters on opening night. They include David Aebisher, Peter Budaj, Marc Denis, Manny Fernandez, Brent Johnson, Phil Sauve, Garth Snow, and Jocelyn Thibault. Four non-expansion franchises do not have any goaltending picks in the league: Vancouver, Los Angeles, Calgary, and Tampa Bay.
The former expansion teams show a very similar number of players in the league, with the oldest team, Nashville, leading by one with 11.
| Expansion teams | No. drafted in league (all) | No. drafted in league (skaters) | No. drafted in league (goalies) |
| Nashville | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Atlanta | 10 | 9 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Columbus | 8 | 7 | 1 |
Copyright 2005 Hockey's Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
Copyright 2005 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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